Oregon, California & back to Oregon

Okay, so it's either feast or famine...yes, I'm a terrible blogger! Let's see, life has been busy, busy, busy with the day to day, but we scheduled in a trip to Shannon's. We (that would be, Matt, Mom, Copper & Me!) left last Sunday (5/25) and drove as far as Corvallis, OR. We then got up Monday morning and headed to Winston, OR to see and spend the night with old friends from Bethel A/G, Tari, Bryant & Marissa Perez. We all got in our van & headed to Crater Lake. Oh what a glorious place.

Of course, every trip must include a few cute critters......

Of course, there was a lot of playing in the snow
and snowball fights as demonstrated by
Bryant & Marissa.

Once we left Winston we headed south. We stopped in Medford, OR for lunch and to show Mom where Kristy used to live. Then it was onward and forward via a million rest stops along the way, don't forget we had Mom with us....however at the Yreka, CA stop there was a very cute VERY pregnant squirrel, who was just waiting to have her picture taken.

We finally arrived at our motel in Redding, CA (about 10 min. South of Shasta Lake City, where Shannon lives) about 7:45 p.m. Tues. called Shannon, ordered pizza in, went swimming & crashed for the rest of the evening.

The next morning we headed with Shanni, Kelly & Kenny Alan to Shasta Lake Dam. Heather was in school. Okay, so is Kelly too cute, or what? And oh so precocious!

Then it was time to pick up Heather (7) from school, head over to Shannon's, give the kids the quilts that Great-grandma Laurel made them. Both girls got quilts, but wanted their picture taken on Kelly's (3) bed
.

Kenny says snuggle time with Gram Grams is a must.

We then headed to lunch/dinner at HomeTown Buffet.

It was then time to grab swimsuits and head to our pool. Before the evening was over, Papa had Heather swimming like a fish, mermaid, shark.....you never knew which one. That includes in the deep end and BaNana (Kelly's name for me) had Kelly "swimming" in the shallow end, jumping off the edge and being fearless. Did I say, she is full of it! Sorry no swimming pictures, but I was in the pool soaking up the sun &

playing with my favorite 3 year old...!

After Shannon & the kids went home we went to Starbucks and to see the Sundial Bridge. Here is a view of it at night and the next day when we went back so we could see it in the day light.

The next day we drove up to one of the many lakes around Shasta Lake. And yes, BaNana did come on vacation!

Then it was time to pick Heather up from school and more swimming. Now not only in Heather swimming in the deep end, but now she's doing cannon balls too. And then there is little Miss Fearless...fortunately she still is made to wear a swimming jacket... "BaNana, don't catch me, I can jump in by myself," and in she goes. Reminds me of Calvin. She so badly wanted to go in the deep end, but there are boundaries... And then it was time to say good-bye....not an easy thing to do.

The next day we headed out, first stop, Mount
Shasta City for pictures and shopping.

Then it was back to the motel we stayed in in Corvallis on the way down. While there, we decided to ditch church on Sunday and spend one more night on vacation. So...Saturday morning we headed to the ocean for a day on the beach....HA! Try a day of shopping, due to fog. However, when we headed home on Sunday, the sun decided to come out...of course, hey at least I got another pretty OR coast picture.

As everything in life, all good things must come to an end. I bet you wish this would!!! We got home last night at 1o:00 exhausted, but having had a wonderful refreshing vacation. Now it's back to work, routine, and kitties & piggies who missed us.